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The Wild Iris (2018)

The Wild Iris, for Clarinet, Violin and Cello, was written for the SOLI Chamber Ensemble and premiered at the 2018 Alba Music Festival. Inspired by the work of Louis Glück, The Wild Iris explores instrumental music's ability to portray narrative through emotive gestures. This work was first conceived as a flute solo for Kelsey Burnham and premiered at Oberlin Conservatory in January of 2018. This version of the piece, for the SOLIC

Rubble Flora (2018)

Rubble Flora was inspired by the work of Louise Glück and written for Kelsey Burnham. The piece consists of two movements and was premiered at Oberlin Conservatory in Clonick Recital Hall in February, 2018.

I The Wild Iris

II The Poppy

Black is the Colour (of my True Love's Hair) (2017)

Black is the Colour (of my True Love's Hair)for Soprano, Flute, Percussion, Violin, Cello and Piano, is the first piece in a collection of classical folk songs inspired by the folk song collections of Berio and George Crumb. This piece was composed during a 6 week residency at the Brevard Music Center, and was premiered August 4th at a New Music Concert featuring:Soprano - Charlotte JacksonFlute - Austin BrownPercussion - Thomas FaulknerViolin - Korah CuffCello - Matt LeiPiano - Kevin MadisonConductor - Rob Rankin

Kindred

for orchestra

Kindred (2017)

Kindred for orchestra was written during a 6 week residency at the Brevard Music Center, and is dedicated to my brother Chris Watson. This recording is a reading from the BMC orchestra, conducted by David Dzubay.

Stages of Grief

Kari Watson

Stages of Grief (2017)

The Stages of Grief is an autobiographical exploration of my experience with grief in the last two years. I wrote this piece for Oberlin's Contemporary Music Ensemble throughout spring semester of 2017. The instrumentation consists of Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Trombone, Percussion, Violin and Double Bass. This piece is dedicated to my 16 year old self, in honor of how far I have come.

It exists in five movements: Shock, DenialPain, GuiltAnger, BargainingDepression, LonelinessThe Return of Light

I wrote this piece during a three week trip to Oslo, Norway in January. During this trip I studied Grieg’s settings of Henrik Ibsen’s texts, and his String Quartet in G Minor. I wrote this piece through a workshopping process, and would like to thank Magnar Åm, Eivind Buene and Lasse Thoresen for their input. This piece is dedicated to my Godparents, Kari and Ola Sveen.

Tak (2016)

I wrote this piece during a three week trip to Oslo, Norway in January. During this trip I studied Grieg’s settings of Henrik Ibsen’s texts, and his String Quartet in G Minor. I wrote this piece through a workshopping process, and would like to thank Magnar Åm, Eivind Buene and Lasse Thoresen for their input. This piece is dedicated to my Godparents, Kari and Ola Sveen.

Variations on a Theme (2016)

I wrote this piece during my first semester at Oberlin, and is dedicated to my mother Elizabeth Watson. This piece was written in November of 2016 for my composition 201 final, and recorded by Liam Kaplan in Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin, OH.

Etude No.2: Throwing Stones (2016)

This is my second electronic etude. This piece was constructed using field recordings of water, sand and wind that were taken at Walden pond in Concord, Massachusetts in November. The natural recordings are paired with recordings of breathing sessions with Talia Roland-Kalb at Oberlin in December. This piece also incorporates external effects processors such as the eventide eclipse, hardware synths, internal instruments, and EQ filters.